Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

Using boats to travel to and from Tortuguero

If you’re headed to Tortuguero during your trip to Costa Rica, you’ve probably already researched the destination, and if so, you likely already know that the car-free destination can only be accessed by boat or small plane. Unless you’re willing to pay for and take a domestic flight to Tortuguero, you’ll do what most visitors do, which is catch a boat to Tortuguero. Enjoying the scenic boat ride through the peaceful, winding waterways that encompass Tortuguero—nicknamed “The Amazon of Costa Rica”—is easy. Determining whether you’ll use a boat that departs from the dock in the community of La Pavona or the dock in the community of Cano Blanco (technically, “Caño Blanco”) is more difficult and a task that plagues the Tortuguero-bound.

Before you choose a Tortuguero dock, know this.

Before we get to comparing and contrasting the two docks, know this: despite each dock being its own jumping-off point to Tortuguero, both the La Pavona dock and the Cano Blanco dock (nearly 40 kilometers from one another as the crow flies) deliver people to Tortuguero Village, the heart of the Tortuguero community. So, regardless of the dock you choose, you’ll end up in Tortuguero.

In addition, it helps to know that travel to Tortuguero (other than via domestic flight) requires a combination of ground transportation (usually a shuttle service) and boat transportation (usually a small boat that seats 8-20 people). So, considerations regarding ground transportation and how it relates to the docks are just as important as considerations regarding boat transportation and how it relates to the docks. In other words, how you’ll get to and from each dock—over road and water—should be taken into consideration when selecting which dock to use.

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Dock location

Both the La Pavona and Cano Blanco docks sit on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, albeit in the Caribbean inlands, not along the Caribbean coast.

The La Pavona dock, where boat transportation can be taken to Tortuguero, is accessed via car or shuttle from beyond the town of Guapiles. The Cano Blanco dock, where boat transportation can be taken to Tortuguero, is accessed via car or shuttle from beyond the town of Siquirres. It is important to know that neither Guapiles nor Siquirres are tourist-friendly areas; to be frank, neither town is particularly safe, and stopping in either town during travel to or from Tortuguero is not smart. If it weren’t for both towns being jumping-off points for trips to Tortuguero, it’s unlikely that tourists would ever pass through either area. We certainly wouldn’t recommend that they do so. To this point, the only time we consider sending foreigners to Guapiles or Siquirres is if they’re destined for Tortuguero, ideally as part of an organized tourist group, or, in the very least, as part of their own travel group (such as a family or friend group) and not as a single traveler.

Much of the network of canals that surrounds Tortuguero Village is considered part of the Tortuguero National Park. Regardless of which dock you choose, you’ll cruise through parts of the national park during the boat trips you’ll make to and from Tortuguero.

Reaching Tortuguero from Guapiles via La Pavona

By car, the La Pavona dock is roughly 50 kilometers from the town of Guapiles. The entire drive is conducted on paved roads and takes roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes, one way.

By boat from the La Pavona dock, the ride to Tortuguero takes a little over one hour. Although the La Pavona dock is geographically closer to Tortuguero Village than the Cano Blanco dock, the journey to Tortuguero from La Pavona takes longer because it follows a curvy route through the canals. In addition, the canals between La Pavona and Tortuguero are notoriously shallow, requiring boat captains to lower their speed to avoid getting stuck, resulting in slower boat travel.

Reaching Tortuguero from Siquirres via Cano Blanco

By car, the Cano Blanco dock is also roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes from the town of Siquirres, one way. The distance covered by this route is shorter, only 35 kilometers, but some slightly bumpy sections in places require drivers to lower their speed, resulting in slower ground travel.

By boat from the Cano Blanco dock, the ride to Tortuguero takes about one hour. Although the Cano Blanco dock is farther geographically from Tortuguero Village than the La Pavona dock, the journey to Tortuguero from Cano Blanco is faster because it follows a more direct route through the canals.

Tortuguero dock map

To help you envision where Tortuguero, La Pavona, Cano Blanco, Guapiles, and Siquirres are located in Costa Rica and in relation to one another, please see our map below.

• Red house symbol: Tortuguero Village
• Blue boat symbol: La Pavona dock
• Blue car symbol: Guapiles town
• Purple boat symbol: Cano Blanco dock
• Purple car symbol: Siquirres town

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Dock popularity

In terms of the number of visitors who use the dock on a yearly basis, La Pavona is the more popular dock. Regardless, in terms of safety (in our opinion), Cano Blanco is the better choice.

The La Pavona dock receives a higher volume of travelers because it sits to the west of the Cano Blanco dock. This means that La Pavona is closer to the center of Costa Rica, including the capital city of San Jose and popular destinations that branch out from it, such as La Fortuna/Arenal. As a result, many people choose to catch a boat to Tortuguero from the La Pavona dock simply to avoid the extra ground travel required (about 25 minutes by car or shuttle, the distance between Guapiles and Siquirres) to reach the Cano Blanco dock from those same destinations. In our opinion, the La Pavona dock is not the more popular dock because it’s the better dock. It’s merely the closest dock to the majority of Costa Rica destinations that travelers visit Tortuguero from.

The Cano Blanco dock is usually only the most popular option in the following cases:

1) When travelers visit Tortuguero direct from destinations on the Caribbean coast, such as Cahuita, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva, or Manzanillo. The Cano Blanco dock is the closest dock to those areas and therefore the most convenient dock.

2) When travelers purchase a transportation-inclusive package to Tortuguero through a Tortuguero hotel, tour operator, or tourism company. Some companies, including Exploradores Outdoors, prefer to use the Cano Blanco dock over the La Pavona dock, so by reserving transportation (usually sold as a combined ground-and-boat transportation package) through one of those companies, you’ll most likely use the Cano Blanco dock.

Because a higher number of travelers pass through the La Pavona dock than the Cano Blanco dock, the La Pavona is a much busier place. You’ll find lots of people, buses, shuttles, boats, boat captains, rental cars, backpacks, and suitcases all around, and the place has a more chaotic (but manageable) vibe. If you choose to travel to Tortuguero via the La Pavona dock, make sure you know exactly which boat you need to catch and at what time, to avoid getting lost or ending up in the wrong place. The same advice applies to travelers destined for the Cano Blanco dock; however, if you’re headed to that dock, chances are you’ll be accompanied by a tour guide (if you booked a transportation-inclusive package) who will direct you where to go, or, if you travel to the dock on your own, at least you’ll have an easier time figuring out where you need to be with less noise and fewer crowds to navigate while there.

Cano Blanco dock

La Pavona dock

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Dock facilities and size

There is little difference in terms of the facilities at the La Pavona and Cano Blanco docks. Both docks have a traditional, wooden building that houses bathrooms (be prepared to pay, usually $1.00 USD, to use the bathroom) and a variety store. Both docks also provide parking spaces. (Because the La Pavona dock caters to a higher volume of travelers, its property is larger, meaning that there’s more space for buses, shuttles, and rental cars.)

Cano Blanco dock

La Pavona dock

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Ground travel to/from the docks

As referenced above, neither Guapiles nor Siquirres are tourist destinations. There’s no reason to make stops along the way from either town to its respective dock, especially if you’re traveling alone. But if you travel to the Cano Blanco dock as part of a transportation-inclusive package booked through a Tortuguero tourism company, the organized experience, which will most likely involve other travelers (yay for safety in numbers!), may include a few quick stops at places of interest passed along the way, including the Del Monte banana plantation and packaging plant and a small farm where you’ll see several giant rhinoceros beetles. On trips to/from the Cano Blanco dock, we’ve also had the good fortune of spotting two-toed sloths in trees by the side of the road and water buffalo grazing in fields, so keep your eyes open for those. The route to/from the La Pavona dock via Guapiles passes through several small communities, so wildlife-spotting opportunities along that route are, unfortunately, kept to a minimum. The route does pass by a banana plantation, though.

Cano Blanco dock

La Pavona dock

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Boat travel to/from the docks

If you’ve read our entire article up to this point, you’re likely leaning toward using the Cano Blanco dock over the La Pavona dock for one or more reasons. But here’s where La Pavona outshines Cano Blanco: in boat travel scenery. Yes, as explained above, getting to Tortuguero via La Pavona is a less direct, slightly longer trip, but the upside is that you get more time to savor the boating experience. Boat trips taken from La Pavona cruise through narrow canals that bring you closer to the forest and its resident wildlife, immersing you in the lush landscape. The shallow canals, which often require boats to move slowly in places, provide boaters with an opportunity to spot and photograph things of interest along the riverbanks, and although you can manage the same if you boat to Tortuguero from Cano Blanco, the canals traveled from that dock are slightly wider, meaning that whatever you see in the trees will be at a distance.

Of course, if you’re headed to Tortuguero during your trip, the chances are good that you’ll participate in a boat tour, a canoe tour, or a kayak tour while there, during which you’re bound to see some of Tortuguero’s lovely wildlife, so seeing it on the journey you’ll make into and out of the destination isn’t a necessity. Consider any additional wildlife that you spot during the boat rides to and from Tortuguero to be sprinkles on the sundae.

Cano Blanco dock

La Pavona dock

La Pavona or Cano Blanco: Comparison chart

Other docks with boats to Tortuguero

The La Pavona and Cano Blanco docks are the most commonly used docks by tourists. Additional, smaller docks fall along the routes to Tortuguero from La Pavona and Cano Blanco (and along routes to Tortuguero from other destinations, such as those that sit on the north side of Tortuguero), but they’re primarily used by locals for non-tourism-related purposes. Some travelers catch boats to Tortuguero from the dock in Moin near the port city of Limon (on the Caribbean coast), but we don’t recommend doing so for safety reasons and because the route taken to Tortuguero from Limon makes for a multi-hour boat ride up the choppy coast, which many travelers find uncomfortable.

A quick trip down memory lane

We first visited Tortuguero many years ago and we’ve enjoyed revisiting, watching it grow, and tracking its changes ever since. ❤️

QUESTION TO COMMENT ON: Have you visited Tortuguero by boat? Did you arrive via La Pavona or Cano Blanco and what did you think about the trip?

Pura vida!

Hey, Costa Rica Travel Blog reader, thank you for visiting and reading our blog! We're truly grateful for your time and preference.

Do you know that your spam-free reading experience is most important to us? Unlike some other Costa Rica blogs, we do not to sell your personal information, and we choose not to display ads, sponsored content, or affiliate marketing on our blog so we can keep your visit as distraction- and junk-free as possible. Because we prioritize your privacy, we don't earn money when you visit us, when you sign up for our e-course, or when you click on our links, which means the time and work we put into this blog—including its 300+ articles—is entirely voluntary! If you find our content valuable, and you'd like to thank us for making the trip-planning process easier and your Costa Rica vacation more enjoyable, please consider making a small donation ($1, $2, $3, or an amount of your choosing) to our blog. Doing so is a great way to pat us on the back if you feel we deserve it. 😊 Pura vida, amigos!

Click on the button above to donate through PayPal. (If you cannot see the PayPal button above, click here.) A PayPal account is not required to make a donation; credit and debit cards are also accepted. PayPal donations are confidential; we never see your payment details.

Love our blog? Check out our other Costa Rica-related projects, too: